


Old Friends and a Little Jealousy

by TheLodgersEnthusiast (Morgan_Molliniere)



Series: The Society of Weird Feelings [15]
Category: The Glass Scientists (Webcomic)
Genre: Blind Character, Childhood Friends, Gen, Jealousy, a reference to The Invisible Man (1933), and a dash of being protective, but mostly Insecurity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 19:29:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgan_Molliniere/pseuds/TheLodgersEnthusiast
Summary: Griffin meets someone he didn't expect to meet on a night out with the other Lodgers.





	Old Friends and a Little Jealousy

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I figured it was time I introduced more original characters into the Weird Feelings series. I don't think this is the last we'll be seeing of the characters introduced in this fic, as well as of one of the settings in this fic. In fact, I think they'll show up quite a bit after this fic, as well as some other original characters of mine.
> 
> Also, I might want to make a second chapter to this. Tell me what you think about that in the comments!

If Griffin were being honest, he knew exactly why he had gotten convinced to go to a pub with the other Lodgers. It was mostly so that Archer and Lavender would stop bugging him to get out of his lab more often. That, and he couldn't stand them giving him sad puppy eyes.

Now that he was out here walking with a group of other Lodgers towards a pub, though, he wasn't quite sure what to expect. He hadn't really been to pubs that much other than to drown his sorrows. Making merry had always been Archer's department.

He looked over at Archer, who was walking next to him. He was talking with the others, but he kept his fingers intertwined with Griffin's. Griffin looked down at their hands, and sighed a little. Then he squeezed Archer's hand tighter.

Almost immediately, Archer stopped talking, and looked at Griffin. “You ok?” he asked.

“Well, you know how I am around alcohol,” he told him, a little quietly. “You think it's a good idea to bring me with you?”

“Oh! Don't worry, you don't have to drink that much,” Archer said. And I do think it's a good idea. You're far more pleasant than anyone thinks.” A pause. “Sometimes.”

“Thanks,” Griffin remarked, a little miffed. But he supposed Archer meant well, so he kept holding on to his hand. Besides, his touch was nice and warm.

The Lodgers eventually stopped over at a small pub, its sign dubbing it “The Almond Tree”. They stepped inside without hesitation, and Griffin followed suit.

The warmth of the interior was the first to grab his attention, then the smell of liquor. It was certainly a bit more cozy than the other pubs he had been to. And less messy. Their group found a large table, and made for it.

“Alright, this place seems nice,” Luckett said, while the others took their seats.

“Been here a couple of times since it opened, so I figured you all would like it here too,” Pennebrygg said. “This place accepts mad scientists too, actually.”

“Really?” Lavender asked. “That's very nice of the owner.”

“Owners, and they're a pleasant bunch to be around, too...”

While the others began talking and Luckett went to order a round of drinks for them, Griffin found his eyes wandering around the pub. Now that he thought about it, the patrons didn't seem that much like mad scientists. Then again, maybe they were just keeping a low profile.

He looked around some more – business seemed slow on this night, so there wasn't a lot to look at – before he stopped on two women sitting at a small table next to the counter. One of them didn't look very interesting in his opinion, but the other one...looked sort of familiar...

“What're you looking at, Griffin?”

His eyes went back to their group – Lavender had posed the question. He shook his head. “Nothing important,” he said, resting his chin in his hand.

Luckett came back, and their drinks arrived soon enough. He drank beer with them, and managed to make a bit of conversation, but he found his eyes wandering to that woman. By now, he had pinpointed why exactly she seemed familiar – but he wasn't sure if he could just go up and ask her if she was who he thought she was.

“Griffin, are you looking at that girl?”

He nearly choked on his beer. Then he looked back at the others. “What of it?” he asked.

“You know, I thought you would have kept your eyes on Archer tonight,” Pennebrygg said.

“Come on, Griffin can look at anyone he wants to,” Archer said. Griffin noticed how he took a drink after he said that, however – he seemed kind of uncomfortable. So he spoke up again.

“What's it to you? She just looks familiar, somehow,” he said. “I've a name in mind, but it's probably not her.”

“Well, if you've a name, it wouldn't hurt to ask her,” Flowers said. “It might not be as mortifying as you think.”

“Though it surprises me that Griffin has names in his head that aren't ours,” Tweedy joked. “I mean, I have to remind myself that he didn't just spring into existence without human connections outside the Society, but you know.”

Lavender gave a look his way, and then turned to Griffin. “Either way, you can go talk to her; it won't be the end of the world.”

Griffin sighed, before drinking the last of his beer, and standing up from his seat. This was the only way to confirm who this woman was, after all.

As he came closer to the table, the woman's friend whispered into her ear, and the woman promptly turned to face him. He guessed now that it was too late to turn back, and he stood in front of her.

“Look, you probably don't recall me, but...” he began. Smooth. He then willed himself to continue, “...are you a Flora Cranley, by any chance?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Who are you?” she asked, though her tone didn't denote any annoyance or suspicion.

“It's me. Jack Griffin.”

Her mouth fell open. “Jack Griffin? Jackson Claude Griffin?”

“Not so loud,” he said, before a corner of his mouth turned upwards and he went on, “Flora Theresa Cranley.”

A peal of laughter erupted from her mouth, and she pushed herself out of her seat before standing in front of him. “Jack! I can't believe it's you!” she said excitedly. “It's been so long!”

Without further words, she wrapped her arms around him. Griffin found a laugh coming out of his mouth, before she pulled away.

“You've gotten taller, too,” she said. “Are you here alone?”

“No, actually – I've a group of people with me here.”

“Friends?”

“...Yes. Friends.” He supposed they were.

“You really have changed, making friends,” she said. “Can Muriel and I meet them?”

“Muriel?”

She gestured in the direction of the woman at the same table as her. “My helper, Muriel Lewis. She helps me sneak out and get back home, especially if I'm too drunk to in the case of the latter.”

“You, sneaking out and getting drunk? You have changed, too.” Then he put his hands in his pockets. “But I guess you can go meet them.”

Flora smiled wider, before she turned and felt around for the cane beside her chair. She grabbed it, and then walked back with him, Muriel following them.

Even before he came back to the Lodgers' table, it was plainly obvious that they were talking quite a lot. Which Griffin supposed he should have expected. He never told them he had any friends outside the Society, or received any letters.

“Hey, Griffin!” Tweedy said, standing up. “Who's the lady?”

“Oh, this is Flora Cranley, and her helper Muriel Lewis,” Griffin said. Then he looked at Flora. “And these are my companions, in front of you.”

“I'm Baxter Tweedy,” Tweedy said, extending his hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you!”

Flora didn't return the gesture, but she did nod at him. “It's nice to meet you as well,” she said.

Tweedy looked a little awkward now, so he put down his hand. “Uh...”

“I'm sorry, were you trying to shake my hand?” Flora asked. “My mistake. I don't normally have to shake hands a lot , especially when I can't see them in front of me.” She put a hand on her chest. “I'm blind.”

“Oh! Don't worry about it!” Tweedy said. He then turned to Muriel. “And it's nice to meet you, too, Miss Lewis.”

Muriel shook his hand this time. “Likewise.”

The others introduced themselves with varying degrees of excitement, and Flora and Muriel replied in kind. The last of them was Archer, and Griffin didn't miss how his smile was a little strained when he looked at Flora.

(A possibility came to his mind, but it wasn't like he was going to point it out...without further evidence.)

“Would you like to sit with us, Miss Cranley?” Flowers asked.

“That would be lovely,” Flora said.

She moved closer to the table, while Griffin went to get chairs from an empty table, since he was closer. As he picked up one, he saw Muriel getting another chair. He said, “You don't have to–”

“I do,” she said, quite coldly. It surprised him, and that moment of surprise was enough for Muriel to go bring the chair she was holding to Flora, who sat down on it, thanking her. Griffin frowned a bit, though he did give her the remaining chair. Looking at their positions, he was oddly relieved that Flora would be seated beside him.

Once they were all seated, Pennebrygg tipped his glass in Flora's direction. “So you're Griffin's friend?”

“I am, yes,” Flora said. “We actually go back a long time. We grew up in the same town.”

“Is that so?” Tweedy said, pulling his chair closer. “How come we've never heard of you 'till now?”

“That is a good question,” Muriel said. Griffin had enough experience with spitting venom at people to know by her tone that she was spitting some at him right now.

“Well...” He adjusted himself in his seat. “We fell out of contact ever since I went to college.”

“It couldn't be helped,” Flora added. “Things just...happened between us. I don't blame him, though.”

Muriel was glaring at him now. What.

“Besides, Griffin's a very secretive person when it comes to his personal life,” Archer told them. “There's some stuff we don't know about each other, and that's okay.”

Griffin looked at him, relieved. He could count on Archer to save him.

“Yeah, he hasn't even told us about any family, save for that his mother is dead,” Lavender went on.

“His mother–?” Flora turned to him, but thankfully didn't say anything that contradicted those words. She knew, though, and her face fell. He looked away and lifted his glass to his lips, before realizing that it was empty.

“Oh, I'll get the next round,” Pennebrygg said. He got up from the table, and Griffin put his glass down. He twiddled his thumbs together, leaving Flowers to push the conversation forward.

“What do you do, Miss Cranley?” she asked, before adding quickly, “As in, what do you occupy yourself with?”

“Well, I do a lot of science,” Flora jumped in, turning her head back in their direction.

Lavender and Flowers looked impressed. “Really? What do you do?” Lavender asked.

“I study and create various types of sounds that evoke certain reactions in people,” she told them.

“So you engineer sounds to produce certain behaviors?” Flowers asked.

“I think the science isn't so new,” Flora went on. “It's closely related to psychophysics. But I come up with patterns to music, and Muriel helps me with engineering music boxes to create the sounds.” She gestured to Muriel. “She's very talented at tinkering.”

“Is that so?” Archer asked, grinning a bit. “Self-taught?”

“Yes,” Muriel said.

“That's amazing, me too!” he replied.

Muriel grinned, a little shyly. “Aw, thank you,” she said. Griffin glanced at her in that second, and it was then that he saw her sneering at him with her eyes.

He was about to ask Flora why Muriel was acting this way towards him, while Muriel began talking with Flowers and Archer about building tiny machines. However, Lavender beat him to the punch, asking her, “So you and Griffin grew up in the same town?”

“Oh, yes,” Flora said, smiling mischievously. “I think, though, that the only reason you might ask that is because you want to hear embarrassing stories about Jack's childhood.”

Oh fuck. Oh no.

“If you don't recall, Flora,” Griffin cleared his throat, “I have lots of embarrassing stories about you too.”

“Oh, really?” Her smile grew wider. “I'd like to see you try to embarrass me.”

“I would really like to hear Griffin be ridiculous in his childhood,” Tweedy said.

“Did I hear Griffin being ridiculous in his childhood?” Pennebrygg asked, coming back from having ordered the drinks. “Spill the beans, Miss Cranley.”

“Is no one else going to take my side?” Griffin asked, a tad annoyed.

“It's just admittedly more entertaining when we hear about your fuck-ups,” Tweedy admitted.

“As if we don't see enough of those with his invisible mice and his cat of fluctuating invisibility,” Luckett added.

Flora gasped. “You have invisible animals?”

“Just the mice,” Griffin said. “As for the cat...it's getting there.”

“That sounds amazing!” Flora said, clasping her hands together. “It almost makes me not want to tell the others about the puppy incident when we were eight.”

Griffin turned a bright shade of red. “Don't you dare.” He pointed a finger at her. “Otherwise I'll tell them about that time you tried to switch the sugar and the salt in my house.”

“You wouldn't.”

“You think I can't?”

“This is beautiful,” Luckett said, before they could go on. “I don't think we've ever seen Griffin so close to someone other than Archer and Lavender.”

“Yeah, it's almost creepy,” Tweedy added.

“What are you implying?” Griffin asked suspiciously, turning back to them.

“You two haven't been in contact for years, and you can still banter like that,” Pennebrygg said. “Are you two sure you haven't had any form of contact over the years?”

“I guess when you've known someone for as long as we have, we're just permanently friends. It happens.” Flora shrugged. “Though it isn't always the norm. But I was just overjoyed to see him again.”

“It seems really nice, seeing an old friend after such a long time.”

Flora and Griffin both smiled.

“It is.”

They didn't notice Archer and Muriel staring, however.

* * *

“Oh, it's getting late,” Muriel said, after Flora had talked with the others for what seemed like an hour. She looked down at a watch. “If we don't leave now, Dr. Cranley might notice that Miss Cranley's gone.”

“That's right!” Flora said, getting out of her seat. “It was nice getting to know you all, really. I hope we can meet again.”

“And us you, Miss Cranley,” Luckett said.

She took up her cane, and reached over, patting Griffin on the head. “Until next time, Jack.” Then she pressed a kiss to his head.

Archer choked on his drink. Griffin looked up at him, and he waved it off while Flora left the table. He blinked, and then turned to see Muriel glaring daggers at him.

“Listen, Mr. Griffin, I don't understand what you're thinking showing up after all those years that Miss Cranley was missing you,” she whispered, “but I think it's best if you don't lead her on like this.”

“Lead her on?” he asked, just as quietly. His eyebrows creased. “What are you implying?”

“I'm not implying anything. I don't want you anywhere near her.”

“I won't make such a silly promise.”

Muriel glared at him some more, but before she could say anything to that, she heard Flora calling out for her. So she told him quickly, “This isn't over,” and went on her way.

“Wow, that seemed intense,” Pennebrygg said. “What'd she say to you?”

Griffin shrugged. “Nothing important.”

“That was nice, meeting your friend tonight, though,” Lavender said. “Looks like we made the right choice by coming here.”

“Yeah, fun night,” Archer commented, though not as heartily as he seemed to intend for it to be.

The others noticed, and Tweedy nudged him. “Something the matter, Arch?” he asked. “You've been kind of uncomfortable ever since we came here.”

“...You don't think Archer was jealous of Miss Cranley, do you?” Pennebrygg asked.

Archer's face flushed. “What? No!” he said. “I'm just thinking. Deeply. About things. I'm drunk.” He took another drink, as if to get himself even more drunk.

Well, Griffin didn't know Archer's drinking habits well enough to know if he was lying about that. But it wasn't like Archer wasn't uncomfortable before he got a few drinks in him.

So...it was probably Flora.

“I'm pretty tired,” Flowers said. “Perhaps we should make our way back to the Society as well.”

“Sure,” Tweedy said, putting down his glass. “Wouldn't hurt to leave before we all go to the point of having hangovers the next morning.”

“Especially Archer, considering it only takes a few drinks to get him really sick,” Luckett added, though not without a tone that implied he didn't believe Archer's story.”

Griffin wasn't about to argue with that, though. He got up out of his seat as the others did, and he went over to Archer's seat. “Do you need any help?” he asked.

“I'm perfectly fine,” Archer dismissed, and stood up. Then he wobbled a bit, before leaning on the chair. “Ok, not really.”

Griffin extended his arm. “Take it. You're a lousy liar.”

“Right, but I think you're in a good mood tonight,” Archer said. He took the arm, and leaned a little more onto him than was necessary. Griffin could hear him sighing, though he wasn't sure if Archer was contented or tired. He then hummed as they left the pub with the others.

* * *

Soon enough, they arrived at the Society for Arcane Sciences. The others had gone to their rooms after saying some goodnights, but Archer remained with Griffin as they went to Archer's room. They stopped in front of his room, and then he looked at Griffin.

“Listen...” he said. “...Jack. I'm not really that drunk.”

Griffin looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. And, uh...” Here he scratched the back of his head. “...I was probably...jealous.”

“Well, you're drunk enough to admit that, at least.”

“I'm being serious, Jack,” Archer said. “I know it's stupid, but it's just that...you never told us about this friend, and suddenly she comes back into your life, and you two are laughing and joking as if nothing happened.”

“What's so wrong with that?”

“...Nothing, I suppose.” He tried to grin. “Guess I'm just being silly.”

Griffin sighed, and then put a hand on his shoulder. “Don't you have any friends you haven't told me about?”

Archer laughed a bit, somewhat sadly. “No childhood friends who know anything interesting about me.”

“Christopher.”

“I did try not to be jealous tonight, especially because she seemed to mean a lot to you. Like Lavender. But...” He pursed his lips, and swallowed. “But I worry.”

“What are you worried about?”

Archer shrugged. “Nothing important.”

“...” Griffin tightened his hold on Archer's shoulder. “I love you, you know.”

Archer looked him in the eye this time. That was good. “We...we don't have to keep talking about this here, you know.”

Griffin looked around, and saw other Lodgers walking around the hallway. He turned back to Archer. “Want to take it inside your room?”

“Maybe.” Archer shrugged again. “But I mean, we don't have to talk about it. At all.” He tried to smile again. “It'll be fine.”

He reached for the doorknob. “I'll talk to you tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be alright by then.”

“Oh...alright,” Griffin said.

Archer waved at him as he opened the door, and then went inside. Griffin stood outside the door after it closed for a few minutes, before walking away.

It wasn't fine. It didn't seem fine. But he probably shouldn't worry. Archer knew how to be happy. It was his department.


End file.
